David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work the Minister of State is doing in this area. In respect of the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and its appeal system, is the Minister of State aware of the length of time it takes for appeals to be heard? Furthermore, very often when appeals are upheld, nothing happens and schools are told they must go through the whole process again. I suggest the NCSE may not be fit for purpose any more and may need to be overhauled.

I also ask the Minister of State to comment on the need for special schools, especially in my area of east Cork where children with special needs are travelling very long distances, in some cases between 40 km and 100 km, to special schools because of the lack of same in their local area.

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